Friday, June 19, 2009

Segway

My wife and I were in Branson, MO last weekend for a family reunion. While there we passed a business that sold rides on Segway (Segways?). For $20 you received a 5 minute tutorial, and 20 minutes of riding around a small course along the side of a hill. The Segway were limited to 5mph so you really could not get yourself in trouble.

I have always wanted to ride a Segway, so we went in and tried it.Even though I am a lousy roller skater and skier, I turned out to have a great time riding around.

At the end of the 20 minutes I went up to return the Segway. I was then informed that since I had completed the beginner level, I could now return (or continue) and this time, ride the non-speed limited Segway (they will go up to 13mph), and for 25 minutes.

I did not realize this (and I can't remember even seeing it listed on the forms when we paid to ride).

I wonder: is this a good system (to wait to offer the second faster level riding)? On the one hand, I would think most people who come into the shop have never ridden a Segway, so you would want to do everything you could to make it simple to get them to try riding. Once they ride, they will probably want to ride again, and then you bring out the faster speed and longer ride time for the same price.

On the other hand, if I had known that I could ride for 20 minutes and if I liked it, ride on a faster one for 25 minutes more, I might have been more disposed to buy both sessions right off.

Or maybe you allow a beginner 10 minutes for $10: my wife never really liked riding the Segway, and would have quit after 10 minutes but wanted to ride out her time she'd paid for. After 10 minutes, I had gotten the hand of it and really wanted the faster Segway.

This seems like a situation where the owner could try various pricing systems - 90% of his customers are there on vacation and probably would only come once or twice anyway. So for a month or two he could try various pricing and times to see what made the most money.